Businesses unable to count the cost of security breaches

UK businesses are finding it difficult to count the cost of security breaches, a new study has revealed.

Research commissioned by CipherCloud found that almost seven in ten (68 per cent) business decision makers are unable to estimate the cost of data loss.

“Our research reveals some interesting insights into the minds of senior business professionals, with a lack of understanding of the true cost of the breach of their sensitive information,” said Richard Olver, regional director of EMEA at CipherCloud.

"On the other hand, it’s clear that organisations are very concerned about the risk of their information being breached.”

Some 44 per cent of firms cited the risk of data breaches as a major fear, while 33 per cent said they worried about the loss of control over data.

Another 23 per cent said they were concerned about data residing under foreign jurisdiction control, while 17 per cent cited the EU Data Protection Act.

On average, 22 per cent of respondents admitted such concerns had slowed at least one or more project.

Some ten per cent said they had been forced to put a stop to all cloud application projects, while eight per cent said at least one had been halted.